Seagate Rap video ...stack the mem'ry to the sky

Watch the video for yourself :)

"stack the mem'ry to the sky" is a line in the song.

Starbucks: Coffee-for-vote and Donation-for-coffee

I recently went to Starbucks' Youtube Channel and found two videos sporting engaging and innovative ideas.

The first one is, as many US people probably know, the vote-for-free-coffee. This has gotten a lot of media attention and several positive reviews from people. A viewer even said this: "I had little respect and like for this company prior to this, this is a class act what Starbucks is doing. It's a nice gesture indeed."


The second one is Starbucks will donate 5 cents for every specially marked coffee bought in participating Starbucks locations. This is similar to a campaign Pampers did with UNICEF.


I am liking this cause-oriented marketing approach Starbucks is doing. I hope they bring it to Asia soon!

I have a theory which I'll never get to prove why Starbucks and cause-oriented marketing works. Starbucks primarily targets young professionals. Young professionals (still) espouse idealism and would want to help society. It's the perfect way for them to help in their "own small way."

Nokia Bruce Lee edition!

Amazing ad featuring "Bruce Lee." Surely, Chuck Norris couldn't help but agree...




This is a good viral initiative, and now, I'm already seeing a lot of videos and articles propagate through the internet.

I want a Bruce Lee Nokia phone!

The net is opening up...even blogs

Wow, this is a surprise for me. One of my favorite blogs Lifehacker will support Facebook log-ins in the future. This makes sense, because this supports cross-pollination, and it makes life easier for the average user (Less passwords to remember!)

Openness is the hot topic right now on the web. From aggregators to portals. In fact, Yahoo and AOL are the big sites doing this (here-Yahoo Glue, and here-ebay on Yahoo, and AOL.com)

Moto Mashup

Motomashup is an intriguing site. The site uses (Filipino) music heavily, which is ok since it ties back to Moto's equity. It almost reminds me of Nestle's Palistuhan campaign, with Francis M and Ramon Bautista.

ABS purchases 5% stake in Multiply.com for $5M USD

ABS CBN announced last Nov 17 that they are purchasing a 5% stake in Multiply.com for $5 million dollars, valuing the entire company at 100 million dollars.

Multiply is a popular social networking site in the Philippines and according to Alexa, is the 6th most popular website in the country, next only to Yahoo, Friendster, Youtube, Google.com.ph and Google. Multiply has an estimated 3 million Filipino users.

From the official announcement over at http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/ ABS stated that Multiply and ABS complement each other.

"Multiply is a natural fit for ABS-CBN. It is the social network that is most consistent to our business model because they have focused on photo, video and blog features compared to the other social networks such as Friendster and Facebook, which focus on connecting friends and running applications. This puts together content and communities around the content, whether it is ABS-CBN-branded or user-generated," he told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

With regard to long term plans for the partnership, it will be monetized via advertising (which are happening now) and creating a mobile version of the site.

I think that Multiply.com is a viable medium for advertising for the Philippine market, but these brands should establish an emotional relationship with, and be of real value to, their consumers. (Compare to P&G's Ted McConnell's statement on Facebook, where he says P&G probably shouldn't advertise on Facebook.) If you know of one, let me know. Majority of commercial entities in Multiply are online stores, selling stuff like clothes and shoes.

QR a mobile marketing staple in Japan

I notice that mobile marketing enabled by QR codes is already widely adopted in Japan. This was in a train station for instance.

What is QR? According to Wikipedia,

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The "QR" is derived from "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes.

QR codes enable a non-interactive medium like a billboard, a magazine, or card, or a product pack even to become interactive. Users need only to snap a photo of the QR code using a phone (with the reader software installed) and users can be redirected to a URL.

In the Philippines, the only noticeable campaign that utilized QR was Nescafe. It hasn't been followed, and the effectivity of QR in the Philippines is still in doubt.

Japan is widely different compared to ASEAN countries in terms of the mobile industry. Instead of SMS, people do mobile internet and mobile emails.

Funny commercials: Cheers Beer

This is a commercial I first saw 2 years ago, about a Thai beer brand called Cheers. I can't forget it though, and I'd like you to enjoy it too! Check out their site, too. It seems to me to be only a single page though.

wePC: Crowdsourcing the next Asus PC, powered by Intel

I would definitely score this initiative a 10 out of 10 for innovation and risk-taking.

Asus and Intel are going to you - yes, the users - for the design of an ASUS computer, with Intel chips powering it.

The gist of wePC is a user idea section where everybody can suggest what their ideal PC should have, then people can rate and comment on it.

As Chasnote mentioned, traffic has spiked for wepc, intel, and asus because of this.

Dell's best-in-class display ad

I think I should let the ad speak for itself first.

Apart from the moving video as the centerpiece of the ad, what's amazing is the RSS feed on the top, and of course it dynamically changes.

Below the video is a button that will show options to either send-to-a-friend, subscribe, embed the ad in your blog (as I am doing now) or download it.

This is the text I got from the email:

Dear ___,

___ has invited you to join ReGeneration.org. The ReGeneration is a global and dynamic movement, a group of people who are committed to sustaining the world's natural environment. Ready to make a difference? Learn about successful and innovative ideas brought to life in a wide range of industries. Read, learn and start making a difference today.

Funny commercials: My Mom said I could!

One aspect of marketing that has been exploded by the internet (social media specifically) is the "banned commercial" concept. Considered unfit by TV standards due to sexual, racial, etc slants, they have found a niche in video streaming sites. This creates an unintended awareness for the brand via word-of-mouth.

I think companies can astroturf with this, but it's quite risky.

With that out of the way, here is an especially funny one, with this video netting over 1.8 million views. "My mom said I could!" More could come over the next days.

Sarah Palin: Pranked!

**Took me a while to observe that FF3 add-on Juice has been screwing up my ability to publish blog entries. So this is one day old...

The 2008 US elections proves to be the most covered election from a social media aspect.

Obama even won Marketer of the Year for his social media exploits.

The most interesting thing to pop up though in recent days is the infamous prank call by 2 Canadian comedians on Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, pretending to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Watch this video! This is the most audacious prank on a politician ever, in my opinion. Handily beats the Erap jokes, because this is straight-up in your face Sarah Palin! (Also, check this page for Palin)



On the other hand, see what Twitter users are saying about the election, here, or here. There is even an exit poll page done in Mahalo.com. Nice execution I must say.

Barack Obama is now the US Pres! But I agree with the NY Times, there is no time to celebrate.